With the White Sox being the worst team in baseball, there is not much to look forward to as a White Sox fan. However, the one bright side is the farm system, as there have been some great performances this season at each level that can provide a glimmer of hope for the White Sox in a few years.
While the Dash don’t have the best record in their respective league, they still have many players on the roster that will likely make it to Chicago one day. A few players recently were promoted and have played even better for the Dash than they did for the Cannon Ballers in Low-A. Let’s take a look at who is performing well this season for the Dash:
Aldrin Batista
Aldrin Batista has been on a new level since he got the promotion to Winston-Salem. Acquired in a late season trade with the Dodgers last year, he has been fantastic during his time in the White Sox farm system.
In four starts for the Dash, Batista is just 1-1, but he has been lights out. In those four starts, he has thrown 21 innings, striking out 23 batters. If that wasn’t good enough, he’s walked just three batters and has given up just 13 hits. Those equate to a phenomenal .086 WHIP and a 1.29 ERA.
Batista is just 21 years old so he may take a few more years to make it to Chicago, but if he keeps pitching like this he can definitely accelerate the timeline. Acquired just for International Bonus Pool money, Batista could be a steal for the White Sox if he continues to pitch like an ace.
Rikuu Nishida
Like Batista, Nishida recently was promoted to Winston-Salem and has played even better than he did in Kannapolis. An 11th round pick out of last year’s draft, Nishida is currently outplaying his draft slot, as most 11th rounders don’t put up these kind of numbers.
Since joining the Dash, Nishida is hitting .341 with a .439 OBP over 21 games(91 at-bats). This is significantly better than what he was doing for the Cannon Ballers, even though he was hitting .290 over 90 games for them.
If that wasn’t good enough, according to Jim Margalus, Nishida is the 6th White Sox prospect in the last century that has scored 100 runs in a single season, which puts him in the same company as Luis Robert Jr.
While Nishida doesn’t provide much in the power category, as he has just hit one homer this season, he gets on base at a very high clip, which is just as valuable.
Since Nishida is 23, we could see him at AA next year and if he keeps it up he could be in Chicago by the end of next year.
